


One More Delivery

by flooj9235



Category: Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Angst, Christine went into the Sierra Madre bunker to help Six kill Elijah, Dead Money, F/F, Old World Blues, Past Relationship(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-21
Updated: 2015-03-21
Packaged: 2018-03-18 20:37:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3583164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flooj9235/pseuds/flooj9235
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Six is struggling to survive in the Big MT when she stumbles across a sniper rifle.  Hidden beneath it is a holotape she was never meant to hear.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One More Delivery

Six staggered out of the Little Yangtze prison camp, shaking off the remains of the ghoul prisoners and trying to ignore the burning sensation where she’d been shot.  Despite their small guns, the prisoners been relatively easy to dispatch, thanks to her proton axe.

The half-collapsed remains of a building stood beside her, and Six looked past it, scanning her surroundings for any other enemies.  Far down the hill, she saw a group of lobotomites and dropped into a crouch.  The scar along her new spine ached in protest, but Six paid it no mind.  She needed a hiding spot before the lobotomites noticed her, since she was in no shape to fight quite yet.

The guard tower was safer, but meant going back across the prison camp, and that was too much movement for Six’s taste.  She opted to slink into the shadows of the crumbling building, tucking herself behind a wall.  A long, sturdy piece of sheet metal slanted over her head, providing an adequate roof, but as Six settled in, she noticed an empty water bottle and parts of a weapon maintenance kit at her feet.

The courier glanced around uncertainly, checking for a vending machine or any other person.  She was alone in the little building, and frowned at the bottle.  While there was junk all over the Big Empty, most of it was simply junk.  The bottle was junk, but the weapon maintenance items looked to be in remarkable condition, better than a lobotomite was capable of.

Casting another look at the sheet metal ramp, Six realized it laid against the barely-there remains of a staircase, and led to a second floor.  She weighed her options, her curiosity getting the better of her, and crawled out of her hiding spot and up the ramp.  She found herself on a small platform, with spare .308 casings and an obviously customized sniper rifle.

Six studied the view, confusion sweeping over her when she figured out that the sniper had been aiming at the guard tower.  The back of her neck prickled uncertainly, and the courier cast a glance over her shoulder to make sure she hadn’t been discovered.  She was still alone, however, and turned her attention back to the rifle.

There was still plenty of room in her pack, and she scooped up some of the ammunition, picking up the rifle as well.  When she did, she noticed a small holotape that had been tucked into the rubble near the base of the rifle.  She frowned to herself, gently prying the disk out its place and plugging it into her Pipboy.  Six turned the volume as low as it would go before pressing play, adjusting it so she could hear the audio without drawing attention to her position.

“… God, Ron, this…  I’m finally about to finish this,” a woman’s voice muttered.  She sighed before continuing.  ”I know…  I know he ran away back at Helios, and I’m glad you’re not with him.  I don’t even want to know what sort of danger he’d have put you in.

“I know you care about him, but you never… He lied, Ron.  It wasn’t my parents that split us up.  It was him.  He told me to leave you, and… threatened you if I didn’t obey.  I knew you’d never believe it, so I just went with the lie he put in my mouth.  Losing you… God, Ron, that broke me.  And now I can finally get my revenge.  We’re not the only ones he’s hurt, and getting rid of Elijah…”  The woman on the recording sighed again.  ”You’ll never forgive me for it, if… well, if I ever see you again.  But I’ll feel better, knowing he can’t hurt anyone anymore.  Especially not you.”

The recording was silent for a long time, long enough that Six thought it was over, but just before she ejected the tape, the woman continued.  ”Maybe someday I’ll… Maybe I’ll see you again, after all this is over, and I’ll be able to tell you everything.  Like… like how much I still miss you.  And that I still love you.”  The voice sounded near tears at the admission, and turned into a whisper.  ”I… God, Veronica.  I love you.  And I hope I get the chance to tell you again.”

The recording stopped, and Six sat in stunned silence, her eyes burning with tears.  As unfamiliar as the voice was, she knew the person behind it.  Memories of herself and Christine taking down Elijah in the Vault of the Sierra Madre flooded her brain (or whatever the Think Tank had put in her skull), quickly followed by the memory of a mortally wounded Christine bleeding out in front of her.

The courier pulled the holotape out of her Pipboy with trembling hands, staring down at it through her tears.  It felt wrong to have listened to such a personal moment that should have been for Veronica’s ears only.  Part of her was tempted to hide the tape away, to spare Veronica from knowing it even existed, but the rest of her knew the scribe would rather have something to hold onto.  She curled her fingers around the tape, half-ready to fling it into the Big Empty, but she found a protected space in her bag, placing the tape there instead.

Six closed her eyes, swallowing her emotions and steeling herself against thoughts of her companions, one passed on and one waiting patiently in the Mojave.  She promised herself she would make it back to the Mojave; she was a courier through and through, and she had one last message to deliver.


End file.
